Mastering Tech

Gambatte Turns Apple Watch into Game Boy Color | Gambatte

Move over Nintendo Switch and NES Classic, Gambatte is making a run for their money.

Gambatte is a new emulator that allows you to to port and play Game Boy Color games right on your wrist, as long as it is an Apple Watch (Series 2). Yes, you read that correct, you can play Pokemon and other classic Game Boy Color games on your watch. It uses Core Graphics as a way to render the 2-d images and allow you to play the games via touch screen.

D-Pad actions are achieved by swapping

Tapping is A

B, Select and Start are all virtual buttons.

It should be noted that this is still new and limited with what it can do. It isn’t the best option, but the developer Gabriel O’Flaherty-Chan is hoping to release an update on it later on. However, he won’t update it until the next watch is released and when he hopes the hardware will be stronger to support emulators better. So we have no date on when that will happen. Currently no word on a future for it on Android. However, for those who want it now, you can get it from Github.

It clearly has a long way to go to be a valid gaming option. I personally would hate to play on those tiny screens. It is a great idea and maybe should be revisited by Nintendo. They could do another release of a classic version of those consoles, as we know they have had success with the NES Classic. The market for retro is out there for them to grab and bring in. It would just fair better if they didn’t do it on a tiny watch screen.

However with that being side, Gambatte is a great concept. It also further proves that once thought defunct devices can find new life in modern day form. Nintendo didn’t just get lucky with NES Classic.

How do feel about using a smartwatch for gaming? Yay or nay? Would you test Gambatte? Leave your thoughts down below.